Of Moons and Stars
by TheRandomGirl
Summary: Novels never fully depict what happens in real life. NatsuxLucy Warning: irregular update schedules and much randomness.
1. Lucy is stupid?

**-I don't own Fairy Tail.- not sure why I have to write that, but most people do, so oh well. I have no idea where this story is going, and I simply wrote whatever came to mind, sorry. Nothing really happens in this chapter, after all. Don't blame me if you start hating this because right now it's just a pointless little chapter. But it was fun to write, so tell me where I went wrong, alright?**

* * *

**Chapter 1**

* * *

It was another normal day. It was morning, and Lucy was at her favorite place in the world, Fairy Tail. She sighed contentedly as she sat down in front of Mirajane, Fairy Tail's ever-too-happy barkeeper and beloved guild member.

"Good morning, Lucy. Would you like some coffee? Tea, perhaps? And oh, we have this new product, some banana milkshake someone suggested way back that we decided to try out all of a sudden. And not to forget there's my favorite fruit punch that I think you should really try out! Also, and there's…" Mirajane went on and on, excited over everything like she usually was.

Lucy thought for a moment, but finally settled for a glass of plain water. What a boring day, she thought to herself, I should go on another mission sometime; it's getting too boring and besides, I need some money for rent and perhaps I could even go shopping with the leftover money. But then again, as Lucy brought the glass of water to her mouth, she realized she didn't want to. She felt kind of lazy right now. Going on missions could wait. Right now, she wanted to enjoy the peace and quiet on this normal day—

"Gray, fight me!" Natsu's voice called as he strolled into the guild hall, already ready for action.

"I've been waiting for you to say that!" Gray exclaimed as his stood, clothes gone in the blink of an eye for no apparent reason.

"G-Gray-sama, y-your clothes…" A blushing Juvia stuttered, though the two didn't even pay attention to her, too engrossed in their fight.

Lucy yelped as Gray suddenly flew over, almost dropping her glass in shock. Her face turned pink in anger. She tried to refrain from screaming at the two of her annoying guildmates, because she had a feeling it would only make things worse.

"Hey, you lousy ice freak. Get up already so I can smash you apart," Natsu taunted.

"You just wait there while I go over there and smack you upside down till you beg me to stop, stupid bunch of flames."

"Oh yeah? Like you're even able to do that, ice popsicle."

"Save your words for later when I beat you, flaming brat."

With that, the guild was thrown into turmoil. Chairs flew. Tables overturned. Somewhere along the way, someone tripped over one of Cana's wine barrels, spilling a little of her precious liquid. And somehow or another, Elfman, the huge guy that Lucy thought totally didn't fit his name, got dragged in as well.

"No one messes with my wine! Learn to respect it! I'm going to teach you a lesson for spilling my wine!" Cana shouted over the noise.

"Man! Fighting is Man! All men should fight to their heart's content! Anyone up for a fight? I'll show you my manliness!" Elfman babbled on and on about things no one else really understood.

Erza simply sat out, enjoying her strawberry shortcake while furniture flew all around her. Happy simply flew overhead, enjoying the scene.

"Not going to stop them, Erza?" her old-rival questioned.

"No, I should not let something as minor as that prevent me from enjoying my treat. This cake is a glorious piece of art, something to be enjoyed – I should not disgrace it by-"

She was stopped short as Elfman crashed into the table. Her eyes widened in a mixture of shock and fury as she watched the very object she was talking about go sailing towards the end of the room and hitting the floor, smashing into a million pieces.

"Oh dear," Mirajane commented, as Erza joined in the fight, bashing up a few of the males which had something to do with her cake being destroyed.

"Mira, tell me when they finally stop," Lucy sighed, barely dodging an empty wine bottle which then crashed onto the wall and shattered. Why did all her guildmates have to be crazy, violent idiots? Well except for some, she thought, as she glanced at the small blue-haired Dragon Slayer crouching down under the table beside her with her faithful Exceed. But still, almost everyone was pretty much mad. But who was she to complain? She'd done some pretty crazy things from time to time as well – not as crazy as her other guildmates, of course – and she'd come to love this guild despite their violent, crazy, tendencies. They were like family. No, they _were_ family.

"Why are you smiling to yourself, Lucy?" Mira smiled, a twinkle in her playful eyes.

"Just thinking how nice it was to have a family."

The white-haired woman raised an eyebrow, and Lucy realized the overreacting mage was thinking too much.

"N-No!" she stuttered. "I meant Fairy Tail was like a family to me! That's all."

"Hmm… I see," Mira said slowly, like she was pondering something. "Have you ever thought of anyone in Fairy Tail as your family? And I don't mean what you meant just now. Like, you know, someone you can settle down with?" Her eyes twinkled, and Lucy did _not_ want to know what crazy thoughts were going on in the mage's head.

"No? I can't even imagine _dating_ any of them! Heck, I've never even had a boyfriend before!" Lucy exclaimed, wide-eyed. Well, wider than they usually were. Her eyes were already quite large in the first place, but that wasn't the point.

"Hmm, we have an innocent little girl here, don't we," Cana said suddenly, appearing out of nowhere. Wait, wasn't she involved in the fight too? But she was now drinking amidst her flying guildmates like nothing of that sort was happening! "It's about time you get a boyfriend, you know. One would've expected you to have gotten one already, it's common knowledge that you're quite good-looking, you know."

Cana was saying it as if it was nothing special, as if it was a fact. Well, Lucy kind of knew that already, but it felt nice being complimented, even if Cana wasn't really meaning it to be one. Lucy felt a little heat rising, giving her cheeks a barely noticeable pink dust.

"Even if you'll probably scare them away with your crazy personality…"

What! Lucy wanted to scream that she considered herself a lot saner than almost everyone else, because it was really the case. But she knew there was no point in doing that because it was impossible to argue against the insane logic of the other guild members, so she kept quiet.

Wendy turned to give her a questioning look, then she realized what Cana had said.

"W-What. I'm not-"

"Yeah, I agree with you too, Cana," the white-haired mage added in unhelpfully.

"How about it? Want me to introduce you to a few hot guys?" Cana smirked at Lucy's bewildered expression, seeming rather pleased with herself that day.

"I DON'T NEED ONE!" Lucy screeched, exasperated.

She sighed. She was so glad the other members were too busy fighting to listen to their conversation, because they'd probably start teasing her about her boyfriendless state, which was obviously, _not_ what she needed right now. Really, she didn't get why they made such a big fuss about it. Sure, she'd like to have one, but she didn't really want any random guy out on the streets. She'd simply decided that what would happen would happen when the time was right.

"Alright, alright I get it. You're happy with the way things are right now, aren't you?" Cana smirked.

Again, Lucy didn't get what she was talking about, but she had a feeling she didn't want to hear it either. Really, these girls were so confusing.

"I don't think she realizes it, so let's just let her figure it out herself, why don't we?" Wendy interjected.

Charle nodded.

"Yup, Lucy's quite stupid!"

Ugh, Lucy had forgotten about the blue feline. Really, everyone was not making any sense today. Not that they did usually, but especially today. Were they keeping something from her?

"Guys, what are you talking about? Gosh, none of you are making any sense! Someone, explain it to me already!" Lucy exclaimed.

They all looked at her like she was an idiot. Which she almost felt she was, because of the way they were looking at her that totally said: This person is so stupid I don't know what to do with her! There was a stunned silence, which made her feel uneasy.

"There, look over there. Tell me what you see," Mira pointed.

Lucy turned. Natsu, Gray and Elfman were lying in a pile on the floor, apparently thrown there by Gajeel. They groaned and got up, Natsu and Gray getting into their fighting stance, and Elfman roaring something about falling to the ground and not being manly. Lucy turned back to Mira and company, not understanding the question.

"What do you mean? All I see are a bunch of idiots."

A pause. Then Happy and Cana shook their heads and spoke in unison.

"Idiot."

"She's blind."

Lucy looked at Wendy, hoping at least she would at least give her an answer or a clue, but Wendy only gave a small smile, not knowing what to say to her. Mirajane laughed softly.

_Really_, Lucy thought, _what is wrong with today!_

* * *

"Ne, Plue, do you think I should really get a boyfriend?"

"Pu!" was the only reply.

The celestial spirit mage gave a weak smile. It wasn't like she expected Plue to reply anyway. In fact, it was probably because he couldn't talk and make himself understood that she felt it was safe to tell him whatever that was troubling her. Well, but it was still kinda depressing since sometimes she felt like she was talking to the air.

Earlier today, she had had that weird conversation with her guild members. It wasn't surprising that Cana would bug her about not having a boyfriend, but it was weird that even the others agreed as well. She had simply brushed it off as one of their weird behaviors but then on her mission with Natsu and Happy later on, she had gotten into a fight with her rude, violent, spirit, Aquarius. Well, nothing special actually, considering she _always_ got into a fight with her. But the spirit just had to say that Lucy would never get a boyfriend due to the way she acted before stating that Lucy shouldn't call upon her for a week or so as she was to go on a vacation with her boyfriend. Annoyed with all the happenings today, Lucy had simply collected her share of the reward, and stormed home to take a nice refreshing bath, leaving her two partners staring after her wondering what had gotten into her.

Lucy slid lower into her bathtub, sighing as she recalled what her friends and Aquarius had said to her today. Upon further thought, she realized that she had not been angry – just very disturbed. Was it that important to have a boyfriend? Lucy was curious. And then, she made up her mind. Lucy was not the type to do something just because others told her to, unless the person was as scary as Erza. But even if Erza had told her to get a boyfriend or _die_, Lucy wasn't sure she would comply, because that was simply unLucy-like. But the events today had got her curious. She had never thought of finding a boyfriend, because love was something she felt she wasn't supposed to rush into. Sure, it wasn't like she was experienced in love or anything, and she had certainly never dated before and did not know how to. But being a writer and an avid reader, she did get influenced enough to think that love was something special, unpredictable and yet impossibly sweet. Love was supposed to be shared with that one special person, and Lucy was sure she had not met that person of her dreams yet, because she felt she would _know_ if something like that happened. But right now, only one thing ran through the spirit mage's mind now. She knew she had not met the person of her dreams yet, so she couldn't possibly fall in love yet right? But that didn't mean she couldn't try. Her guildmates had made her eager to find out more about this feeling of dating, and Lucy thought: why not? She was determined to try, even if only to prove to her guildmates that she had at least dated once and was not a total idiot regarding matters of the heart. Besides, it would probably be fun, wouldn't it?

She patted Plue on her head before getting up and grabbing a towel to dry herself off. And then she spoke aloud, more to convince herself than for Plue to hear.

"Let's try this out. I'm going to try to find my perfect boyfriend."

* * *

Lucy groaned. She was regretting what she had said earlier on.

She had been sorting through her list of perfect boyfriends since two hours ago. And not one had caught her attention. Sure, they were good-looking, and totally cool and strong. But not what she really wanted. She flipped through the latest addition of Weekly Sorcerer Magazine, wondering if she was ever going to find someone that would suit her definition of perfect. Okay, maybe not perfect, since Lucy doubted there would ever be someone she would find perfect. But at least he had to be acceptable. Then again, Lucy wasn't sure what she wanted. Perfect obviously meant handsome, cool, sexy, understanding, loyal, humorous, hardworking… the list could go on and on. But did the spirit mage really need all that? She was demanding, but certainly not _that_ unrealistic. But thinking about that made no sense to her, so instead she decided she would think about it when the time came. Instead, she focused on what she did _not_ want in her boyfriend. Weakness, she thought, was something that she totally did not want in her boyfriend. Imagine going out on a date and having the guy grab onto you, afraid of every minor thing. Lucy rolled her eyes. Definitely out. But sure, she would not expect that much. Every person would have some sort of weakness too, and she was definitely not an exception. But Lucy did like strong people, which was why she started finding a boyfriend from a list of mages, because from her experience in Fairy Tail, she knew that most mages, or at least those from her guild, were strong-willed, and had many good qualities. Well, her guildmates were rather loud and stupid though, but she loved them for it, in a way.

Alright, next point to consider. If it was a mage, he _must not_ be a rival of Fairy Tail. The guild was like her family, and she loved it too much to even consider dating someone who hated the guild. Enough said.

Next point. Loyalty. Yes, she wanted her boyfriend, whoever it was going to be, to be loyal. She wouldn't know what to do if her boyfriend was not going to be loyal to her, and flirt around behind her back. No, actually she did _know_ what to do: give him a punch and throw him aside because if she didn't mean a thing to him, she wasn't going to give a damn about him either. But dating someone like that before finding out he wasn't loyal would be a waste of time and effort, so Lucy would rather not in the first place.

Alright, next. Understanding. That was a must. Sure, she knew it was impossible for two people to agree with each other wholeheartedly on everything, but at least they should try to understand that other person's point of view. They didn't have to agree with each other, but they should try to understand what the other party was thinking. That was enough for her.

Alright, what else. She was beginning to have a headache. Oh, and of course she did care a bit for the person's looks. Okay fine, not a bit. A lot. But she didn't need the guy to be so handsome he could sweep her off her feet. Acceptable would do. And there were other factors to consider too, like stupidity, perhaps. But whatever. She was too tired to think about this. She had a feeling that it was impossible to find someone to fit all these qualities. In fact, she didn't even think she qualified for half of these requirements.

She groaned. This was harder than she thought. Perhaps she should just give up. But giving up was something she did not like to do. But it didn't mean she should be thinking over it all day, either. So perhaps she should just continue with whatever she was doing before this subject came into her life. She would think about it later. Right now, all she wanted was a glass of cold lemonade and a nice chat with her guild members. After all, they were what was most important to her right now. Yeah, they were the best guild ever, and nothing was going to change that. She smiled. No boyfriend? Sure, she could live with that. No guild? No, couldn't imagine that at all, because that was all she was. Yeah, if she had her guild with her, she could live through anything at all.

She burst out laughing, realizing her stupidity for hoping for more when she already had all she ever wanted right now. Yeah, she could live her life like this.


	2. Still no progress

**Writing in another point of view was weird, but fun. But I wasn't really sure how to, so I'm sorry if anyone read this and hated it. Well, that's if anyone even bothered to read this, that is. It's unedited, and too short a chapter I think, but right now in the middle of exams, I'm too lazy to think. Instead, I'll go read some other stuff to cheer myself up :)**

* * *

**Chapter 2**

* * *

Happy was a flying, talking cat. Not something you'd see often. He was young, at the age of 7 year old – no, Happy was _not_ fourteen, since he decided the seven years spent doing nothing where he didn't age at all or had a single fish – oh poor, poor him – was _not_ counted. So yeah anyway, Happy was for- _seven_ and was pretty young. Though for a cat, he could be middle-aged; but he was _not_ totally a cat and he was not old! So anyway, Happy was not old, but he wasn't dumb. Sure, he acted like a total five-year old most of the time – hey, Natsu did too! And Natsu was way older than him! – and did lots of stupid stuff and liked lots of stupid stuff – of course, not Charle; she wasn't stupid! – but he knew things and saw through some things better than some of his guildmates did.

Happy knew he was slow to realize many things, but he knew too that there were others who were like that as well, and even more so than him – cough, Natsu, cough – _especially_ when they were the object of discussion. But of course, Happy liked to have some fun by deciding to _not_ tell them. (Hey, even he liked to be the one to know something the others did _not _know about, for once!) But still, sometimes he'd drop a little hint or two because it wouldn't be fun if the two people didn't have any idea what was going on _at all_. And trust him, they really didn't.

"Happyy," Natsu whined like the little kid he was inside. "Lucy kicked me out of her house again! And I was being nice too! I didn't even try to mess up her kitchen _or_ her bathroom; I simply sat there and _waited_ – can you believe it? – waited for her to come home! Just so we could ask her on a mission! And still she kicked us out!"

"Natsu," Happy replied. "That's because she wanted to _change_ and you weren't getting out of her room. And I thought you weren't interested in such stuff?"

"Hey!" the pink-haired retorted indignantly. "What I meant was that I wouldn't try to peek even if I was in there! I may be rude, and stupid-"

"Everyone knows that."

"Hey! Anyway, I might be rude, and stupid, but Igneel did teach me some manners, alright? Besides, I am not _that_ stupid okay? I just do whatever I feel like because I want to, nothing else."

"Aye!"

"Hmm… what's this about not being stupid?"

Lucy appeared at her doorway, dressed newly in a green tank top, a short black skirt with her keys and whip hanging from it, as well as matching green heels. Happy was a cat, so he didn't care, but he supposed Lucy dressed in that was what could be considered attractive from the human's point of view.

But of course, Happy being Happy, could never give up on a change to tease Lucy.

"What's with that outfit? You look like some moss or something with that green shirt!" Happy commented, smiling and giving his most innocent look.

Alas, that did not work too well on Lucy.

"Come back here you stupid cat!" She was brandishing her whip, which Happy decided was _not_ a good thing.

But still, he couldn't help but try to annoy her more.

"So unfeminine! No wonder you won't get a boyfriend!"

Surprisingly, she stopped chasing after him. Curious, Happy turned back and went to Lucy's side. Had he said too much?

Apparently, that was _not_ a good idea.

Quick as lightning, her hand shot out and caught him by the tail before he could comprehend what was happening.

"Got you, you stupid cat!"

"Natsu, help me!" Happy whimpered to his best friend who was a few feet behind him.

"Sorry Happy, but Lucy is scary."

She turned to glare at him, but did not say anything. Happy noticed that her eyes weren't as bright as usual. And for a split second, Happy saw that what he had said earlier seemed to have some impact on Lucy, though he wasn't sure why exactly.

Happy smiled inwardly. The blue cat was going to have some fun.

"I assure you, you won't have that grin on your face once I'm done with you."

Happy gulped. _Maybe not_.

* * *

"So, what's that mission you said would be perfect for me?" Lucy asked, arms crossed in front of her.

Happy stared back, wondering if it was alright for him to speak. He'd been abused quite badly by her just now, even if he admitted it was partially his fault. But hey, she didn't have to go so far!

"I was waiting for you to ask! See, it has this reward of 200,000 jewels, so we thought that if you wanted to come with us, we'd be nice and give you a share of 70,000 jewels, just nice for you to pay your rent!" Natsu chimed in happily.

At that, Lucy expression seemed to soften. Good, Evil Lucy was gone.

"Aye!"

"So, what's the mission supposed to be? You didn't really answer my question, you know."

Happy looked at Natsu for help. Natsu didn't notice Happy, but he answered her question anyway.

"Uh, you see. I think it's something about wanting a blonde as a part-time worker at his café as a replacement for his worker who quit suddenly. Yup, that's it right Happy?"

Lucy glowered darkly.

"Uh huh. And while I'll be doing that, what are you two gonna do?"

"Sit around and eat, duh! It's a café! What else is there to do there?"

Lucy's voice was dangerously low now.

"So you're going to make me do all the work for you, while you two sit there enjoying yourselves. A very good idea indeed. And you two will be taking more than half the money, too. A very good deal, I'd say."

The pink-haired boy seemed to understand what was going on now.

"U-Uh…"

"And whose great idea was this?" The celestial spirit mage gave an impossibly sweet smile now, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

Happy did not want to get into trouble.

"It was Natsu's." The blue feline said immediately.

"Hey, Happy! Friends are supposed to stick together through thick and thin!"

Happy smiled innocently.

"Well, I didn't say anything wrong now, did I?"

"Natsu…" Lucy growled.

The Dragon Slayer gulped. Happy knew the guy wasn't afraid of anything, but even he knew Lucy could be pretty damn scary if she wanted to be.

"U-Uh… Ouch! Ah! Ow! Happy, help!"

"No way, I already got my fair share of beatings earlier on."

Lucy turned to look at Happy, then her expression softened. Looking at Natsu again, she sighed.

"Alright, alright. It's my fault okay?"

Natsu and Happy stared.

"F-For beating you I mean. You guys deserve it. But maybe I went a bit overboard. Just- the girls have been bothering me a lot lately. And it's not only them. Everyone seems to think the same way too. Honestly, I'm troubled, if not annoyed."

Immediately, her two friends were by her side, arms around her shoulder in a group hug. Though Happy was flying, of course.

"Nah, it's fine. Tell us anything. But give us a warning before you start going violent and crazy on us again. You're scary when you do that, you know."

"Aye!"

"Y-Yeah…"

But Happy was thinking about something else. Something recent? Hmm. The gears were fitting into place in his cat-like mind. Could it have something to do with their little talk in the guild a while ago? Lucy had flatly denied even wanting to have a boyfriend, but maybe she was a little bothered by what they said. Well well, Happy thought, if Lucy was thinking that, she had to be quite stupid. Happy giggled. He agreed with Cana. Lucy had to be quite blind. But that made it all the more fun for Happy.

"Alright, let's go then! I'm all fired up!"

"Say that when you're actually going to do something productive!" came Lucy's high-pitched voice.

"Aye!"

"You too, kitty!"

"Aye!"

"Don't 'Aye!' me when you're not even planning to do that!"

"Aye!"

"Ugh, I give up."

Yeah, Happy thought. This would be fun.


	3. Bets

**Chapter 3**

* * *

Natsu was, unlike popular belief, _not_ so much of an idiot. He could do simple things without screwing up, (That was what he told himself.) and sometimes did things even better than others did (Rarely, but still!). He knew he wasn't really smart, but he did understand most things better than people credited him for. Sure, he wasn't smart as hell, and he knew that, but he also knew that he at least knew what was going on in his life.

But, he knew there were people smarter than him out there. Not so many were in the guild, (because the people in the guild were rather crazy and he refused to admit that he was the same as them), but there were still some smart people in the guild. Like Lucy.

Which was why he was going to use this to his advantage.

But first he had to get her to agree.

"Lucy~" he whined like a lost puppy.

"I'm already partnering Levy. Ask someone else."

"But no one else wants to partner with me! Either that, or they already have a partner!"

"In case you don't remember, Natsu, _I already have a partner too._"

"Yeah, but…"

The pink-haired teen knew there was no winning her in a verbal contest, so he gave up. For now. He would think of another way to convince her later. After all, the horrible, _horrible,_ examination-of-sorts was tomorrow, so he had a little time to try to convince her. But really. He didn't understand why they had to have this thing all of a sudden. They never had it before, so why did they suddenly decide to? And it wasn't even anything to do with fighting!

It all started around four days ago. Erza- Natsu inwardly cringed at the mention of her name- and Mirajane came up with this supposedly _brilliant_ idea to make the guild members more peace-loving and smart, so the guild could get a better reputation and stop wrecking havoc wherever they went. Or at least that's what he remembered they said. Either way, Natsu could tell this plan was so _not_ going to work. But somehow they had got the approval of the old man, so Natsu couldn't say no. Usually, he'd just ignore it and wouldn't even try to take part in something he wasn't interested in, but then Gray – the stupid, walking, stripping icicle – had made a bet that he could win Natsu. And of course, Natsu would _never_ give up on a chance to kick Gray's ass, so he just _had_ to join in. Actually, there was also a secondary reason, but he didn't tell anyone that. Actually, he believed most people joined for that reason too – Erza. Erza was _just too scary_, and because it was _her_ idea everyone else listened to her anyway, even if they thought it was stupid. But there were some – like Lucy and Levy – who really felt this would be fun. Really, Natsu thought, all the girls (and a few of the guys, hint: Gray) were crazy. Erza was obviously crazy. Mirajane could be scary when she wanted to. Lucy had random mood swings. Levy – well she was alright, but she loved reading too much, and that immediately classed her as crazy too. Cana was a crazy drinker. Not that he cared, but she got really upset – and that was an understatement – whenever someone didn't "respect" her beer enough. And there were others too, like Juvia, the crazy stalker (he never understood why she wanted to stalk _Gray_ of all people). But anyway, he was too lazy to care, because right now he needed a plan to make Lucy his partner for the upcoming contest, because he absolutely _needed_ to win Gray at this.

Well, with Lucy's help, of course. Usually he alone was more than capable of owning Gray (or so he thought), but because this competition or whatever it was required _brains_, he needed Lucy to help him, because while she wasn't the smartest person on Earth, she obviously knew more than him. Hey, it wasn't like he didn't think he couldn't beat Gray alone! It was- uh- um- yeah, he just wanted to make Gray feel better, so he won't feel like he lost so badly to Natsu! And of course, because Gray was surely not taking part alone. Juvia had offered him her assistance once she'd sensed it was an opportunity to get closer to Gray, and of course he didn't mind the extra help.

But that brought him back to the problem at hand. Lucy already had a team, and it wasn't like she was planning to stop partnering with Levy just because he asked him to. She'd just give him another lecture and tell him about how he shouldn't stop her from having some fun with the other girls once in a while. Natsu scratched his head. What should he do? Then the answer came to him. Of course! Since asking Lucy didn't work, he should just ask Levy instead. Get her to join the rest of team Shadow Gear or something, he didn't care. He would even have asked her to join him so they could have an advantage over the others (Levy was smart), but there was a maximum of three per team, and including Lucy and Happy, there were no slots left. Oh well. Guess he'd just have to get Lucy on his side first. Natsu secretly applauded himself for coming up with a Plan B so quickly. Alright now, where was Levy? Looking around, he spotted short, yet feminine blue hair. Levy.

Usually Natsu didn't converse much with the blue-haired and petite teen, but he walked towards her nonetheless. They did chat from time to time, but not much, and only when there was something important. So Levy raised an eyebrow as he neared, waiting for him to speak, which he did.

"Uh, hi Levy."

"Hmm...?"

"Uh, just wondering if you were going to pair up with your other team members. Uh- j-just wondering. I'm not forcing you to group with them or what, really!" the pink-haired teen stuttered nervously, only now realizing he had no idea how to make Levy join her other groupmates instead.

But Levy seemed to get it somehow.

"Hmm... Are you by any chance trying to stop me from pairing up with Lu-chan?"

"Yes! I mean, no!" _Oh no, what was he saying? If Lucy knew he was bugging Levy just to get her on his team, she'd never forgive him! He'd better be careful!_

Levy paused for a moment, mouth hanging open for a short while. She stared at Natsu for a moment, as if pondering something, but Natsu didn't know what. It felt kinda weird actually, having someone stare at him. Usually he did the staring, not others.

The pink-haired teen looked at the young woman in front of him, feeling a bit awkward. _Should he go?_ But then the solid script mage suddenly seemed to realize something, for her eyes lit up.

"Oh my! Is this… Oh, I can't believe this! I feel so happy for Lucy-chan! I didn't believe what the others said, but I think I'm starting to see it now! Oh- this… This is awesome!"

"Huh…?" Natsu scratched his head, clearly confused by Levy's random outburst.

Levy took a deep breath, visibly trying to regain her composure.

"So anyway, why do you need Lu-chan on your side?" She asked the way she would normally, but her eyes were shining. Really, really weird, Natsu thought.

But since the younger mage didn't seem angry about Natsu trying to steal her partner, he decided to just go along while she was still in a good mood.

"Um, well… Because I made a bet with Gray that if I won him tomorrow, he'll have to send Master a love letter using Erza's name…?"

"Oh."

Levy's eyes seemed to lose their sparkle for a moment. But when she looked up after two seconds, she was visibly cheerful again.

"Okay! I get it; I'll tell Lu-chan later that I'm going to join Jet and Droy. Good luck tomorrow!"

With that, she went to Mirajane, who was behind the counter as usual, and started chatting happily to the white-haired mage.

Definitely weird, Natsu concluded. But whatever, since he had a chance to beat Gray now, he didn't care. Now, that was surprisingly easier than he thought.

Oh yeah, Gray was so going down. He smirked.

He couldn't wait to see the expression on Erza's and Master's face when they saw the letter.

…

Oh wait, he hadn't even won the bet yet. _Stupid me,_ Natsu thought, _I should really set my priorities right._

* * *

"Natsu," Lucy called, exasperated. "Do you even know what we're going to do today?"

"Um… no? Something about a test or something. The stuff you learn in school? All I know is that we'll be having this competition thing where we score points, and that I am going to score more points than Gray's team for sure!"

He heard Lucy sigh. "Natsu, you've never gone to school, have you? After all, you were raised by a dragon, and you came to this guild shortly thereafter."

Natsu paused.

"Actually, I have. Igneel used to teach me. And even after that, I did go to school for a while, because the older guild members decided that everyone in the guild should have some sort of education. It wasn't as interesting as magic or smashing up things though."

Lucy looked shocked, like she couldn't believe what he said. Natsu was a little annoyed. Just how stupid did these people think he was? But he never talked about this to others often, because he didn't really care for education. He preferred doing things his own way. But since he was talking about this now, he might as well brag a bit, right? So he did.

"You know, I did even better than Gray. I was rather well-behaved too! Much better than the stupid ice box at least. The teachers were always shouting at him to put on some clothes, and eventually the headmaster told Master to remove us from the school because they said there were many complaints from parents about Gray's 'inappropriate' behavior. Not sure why I got kicked out either, because it wasn't my fault at all. But I didn't care anyway."

Lucy simply looked like she didn't believe what she was saying. She slapped herself on the face.

"Ow. I'm not dreaming? Really? You and school?" Lucy rubbed her face where she had slapped herself, staring at Natsu, obviously incapable of making the connection between Natsu and studying.

Natsu was a little annoyed.

"Hey, how stupid do you think I am?"

"Um, quite." Her face was deadly serious.

Natsu groaned. Everyone always thought so little of him, it was slightly irritating. But he didn't know whether to be happy that Lucy was honest with him, or angry at the blonde because she didn't even try to lie to him.

"Ever heard of a white lie, Lucy?"

"… What?" she sounded a little surprised. "You actually know the meaning of the phrase?"

Ugh, really. He knew he looked quite stupid, but hey! It didn't mean he was _that_ stupid! But he decided to keep quiet for now, not liking where the conversation was headed.

"Let's go in!"

"Yeah, we should," came Lucy's tired reply.

* * *

"Alright, so here's the plan for today," Master Makarov began, "It's a competition between teams, as I've said before. The first event is pretty simple – it's like any other quiz, just that teams have to compete among one another because only one team gets to answer one question. If there's a wrong answer, however, another team will get to try answering it, though the team that failed would not be allowed to try again that turn."

"That's right," their smiley, white-haired barkeeper continued. "The team that gets it right on the first try receives 5 points, and the team that gets it right on the second try gets 4 points, and so on. A wrong answer results in a loss of 1 point, so be very careful there. Also, if the next team is able to give a reason as to why the previous team's answer was wrong, they get one point as a bonus."

"Heard that, you brats?" the little old man said. "But since we encourage participation, we might allow you guys to do a favor for me instead of losing one point if you answer wrongly. For the females only, that is."

Makarov turned a little red, and Natsu did not want to know what thoughts were going on in the perverted old man's head. He respected the old dude, but while Natsu wasn't the most innocent boy around, he didn't appreciate females exactly how the Master did. He was so glad he wasn't born a girl.

He wondered what the Master would make them do as a "favor". But of course, he wouldn't be allowed to do that.

"Master…" Mirajane faced Makarov, her words dangerously low. If looks could kill, Natsu guessed that Mirajane would have killed countless number of people, because when she wanted to be, even Natsu thought that she was pretty damn scary.

"N-Nothing! It was a joke, a joke. I wouldn't do something mean like that, would I?"

Natsu didn't believe him, but Mirajane smiled.

"Good," she was back to her usual cheerful demeanor. "Now, the first event will last for about two hours, where half of the teams will compete against one another. It will last approximately two hours."

"Next, we'll have an hour of free time to do whatever we want and have lunch. At around two in the afternoon, we'll all gather right here in the guild, and there we'll start on our next event. The event involves going around town and finding something using a map and some clues. The point of the event would be to unlock the clues, retrieve the designated item for your team, and report back here before the time limit. Actually, I'd say you have a lot of time, because you have the whole day – that is, until twelve midnight, to report back here. Meanwhile, Mirajane, Erza and I would be here waiting and enjoying cake while waiting for you to come back, because as the organizers and judges, it won't be fair for us to take part. Besides, it'd be fun to watch you guys."

"So anyway, you get 50 points for being first, 45 for coming in second, 40 for third place, and so on. You can also choose to forfeit halfway, though you won't get any points for that, of course. Failure to reach here before midnight results in an automatic forfeit. So try your best! Even if you come in last, you'll still get 5 points, so don't give up!" the take-over mage smiled innocently. "I look forward to seeing who comes in first!"

"So," Erza appeared in her usual armor, "please do your best. I will personally deal with those who do not take this seriously –"

Everyone shuddered at the thought of the possible punishment.

"—so good luck. Remember, the winner gets free tickets to a hot spring plus half a month of free beverages, courtesy of Mira. The first runner up gets half a month of free beverages. The first three teams will all get excused from cleaning the guild for two weeks – that does not mean you can make a mess out of the guild or destroy it though – because whoever does that has to answer to me."

"And –" her eyes gleamed, and Natsu shuddered. "The last group will have extra cleaning duties for a month. The others will still help out, but the losers will be doing _extra_ work for us."

"Then, let us announce the teams.

Team A – Jet, Droy and Levy

Team B – Wendy, Charle and Romeo

Team C – Cana, Makao and Wakaba

Team D – Evergreen, Bixlow and Fried

Team E – Natsu, Happy and Lucy

Team F – Gray and Juvia

Team G – Alzack and Bisca

Team H – Max and Warren

Team I – Gajeel and Lily

Team J – Elfman and Lisanna

The others are either out on missions or apparently sick-" Erza spat out the word, "-and I will personally have a chat with them next time I see them."

Everyone who previously thought of skipping this event suddenly felt relieved that they didn't.

_Wow, I might actually have to thank Gray for this. If not for him, I would probably have skipped this too – and face the wrath of the demon called Erza. Not that I'll even admit that to him anyway ,_Natsu thought.

"So," Mirajane quipped happily. "We'll start the first phase in ten minutes, so be back here by then!"

Once they were dismissed, everyone immediately started chatting amongst themselves.

"Makao, Wakaba, you lazy bums better _not_ slack off! That two weeks of free beer is going to be mine! I won't forgive any of you if you deprive me of my beer, even if you've helped me before! Heard that, Lucy?"

"Uh… Yeah…" Lucy replied. Then she murmured softly, but Natsu heard it due to his sensitive hearing, "But I don't even want the beer…"

Natsu chuckled. Everyone in the guild was definitely weird.

"Romeo! How dare you betray your father and join Wendy instead!"

"I wouldn't want to group with you; I'm much smarter after all… Anyway, your group already has three people! And I can't possibly leave Wendy and Charle to group by themselves, stupid," the black-haired boy shot back.

"U-Uh, it isn't his fault, really. I asked him if he wanted to join me…" Wendy spoke hesitantly.

"Oh no, it's fine! It's certainly not the fault of a little girl as cute as you!" Macao turned to her, mood completely opposite.

Charle shook her head. "Men are idiots."

"Aye! But I'm a cat, so it's fine!"

She simply ignored him.

On the other side:

"Go, Papa, Mama!" Little Asuka smiled at her parents despite not really understanding what was going on.

"Of course, we'll win for you," Bisca patted her daughter's head affectionately.

Natsu spotted Gray and Juvia conversing with Gajeel at the other corner.

"Gray, you better watch out, 'cos I'm gonna kick your ass this time, and I mean it."

"Oh yeah? I doubt so. And don't forget our bet. If you want to get out now, just get down on your knees and beg, and I might consider it."

"As if. You won't have that smirk on your face when I'm wiping the floor with your ass."

"That's my line, flames."

"Oh yeah? Be careful of what you say."

"While you two are quarreling, I'll go there and get a drink, alright?" Lucy's tired voice came through.

With that, the celestial spirit mage walked over to the bar and started chatting with white-haired woman there.

Minutes later, everyone was gathered at the guild hall again.

"Alright, ready for the first round? Remember, this isn't about fighting at all, but about random questions. Even I think some don't make sense anyway, but let's just continue alright? Just make sure to enjoy this! Let's go!" Makarov announced.

* * *

Team A, C, E, F and I were grouped together. (Levy, Cana, Natsu, Gray and Gajeel's teams) Natsu did not like seeing the same faces over and over, but he didn't complain about the grouping, because it was random anyway.

Besides, he smirked, most of them were rather stupid. (or so he thought) Except for Levy's group maybe.

"Alright. The first question. If you think you know the answer, press the button beside you." Mirajane spoke up happily. Natsu swore, the woman was almost always happy for unknown reasons.

Natsu turned to see an innocent looking red button beside.

"Okay, first question: What's the freezing point of pure water?"

Natsu thought the question was too easy. Immediately, everyone pressed their buttons.

"Okay Gray, you got it. What's your answer?"

Everyone groaned. Free five points.

Unsurprisingly, or surprisingly, they predicted Gray's answer wrongly.

"Uh, negative two degree Celsius?"

Everyone looked at Gray like he was an idiot. Or at least Natsu did.

"How the hell did you get that?" Natsu burst out laughing.

"What d'you mean how? The last time I froze water, it was at that temperature! I'm an ice mage – I know this better than you alright!"

Natsu just continued laughing. The others snickered.

"Looks like Ice Boy is as stupid as he looks." Gajeel said loudly to his Exceed, Lily, who simply kept quiet, as if pondering how it was possible to get a question like this wrong.

At this, Juvia spoke up. "Gajeel! Gray-sama is not stupid!"

He smirked. "Whatever you say."

"I'm sorry Gray, but that's wrong." Mirajane said sadly, though with a smile on her face. The pink-haired mage wasn't sure how that made sense, but it was Mirajane, so it was possible.

"WHAT?"

More laughter. Even a few from the other group had overheard and were laughing amongst themselves.

"I'm sorry, but you get negative one point. Now, who's to answer next?"

Quicker than Natsu expected her to, the celestial spirit mage had already pressed the button.

"Alright, Lucy. Your answer?"

The others groaned, having lost another chance to get free points. Except for Gray, that was, which Natsu happily noticed, was looking rather dejected and lost at not knowing the answer to a question that he, of all people, should know. Juvia, on the other hand, was busy consoling him. Natsu grinned. Gray was pathetic, really.

"Zero degree Celsius." Lucy proclaimed happily. "Also, Gray got that question wrong because while he did freeze water, he didn't freeze _pure_ water. Water contaminated with impurities makes it freeze at a lower temperature."

"Good. Okay, Negative one point for Gray, Five points for Lucy, zero for the rest. But there's still more to go, so don't despair!" Mirajane happily stated, even though with that smile on her face, Natsu thought that she didn't mind seeing them in that state of "despair".

"Nice, Lu-chan!" Levy seemed genuinely happy for them. But her next words weren't so.

"But, like Mira said, there's still more! So be careful now! I won't let you take the lead for long!"

Beside him, Lucy smiled, which Natsu found kind of creepy.

"I'll try not to lose too, Levy-chan."

"Yeah, if you lose, you'll owe me a favor! And no going back on your word!" Levy grinned.

Natsu was slightly shocked. Who knew kind, nice, and smart Levy would threaten? Looking around, he noticed the other's reactions were the same as his. Gajeel simply smirked, like he knew Levy wasn't that innocent.

Lucy gave another one of her creepy smiles. "Yeah, I agree too. If you lose though, you'll owe me a favor too, Levy."

"You're on! Let's do this, Jet, Droy! Let's beat them!"

"Yeah!"

"Who said we were gonna lose? Right Happy, Natsu?"

Natsu smirked. He wasn't going down without a fight either. And there was the thing with Gray too.

"Right! I'm all fired up!"

"Aye!"

* * *

**I'm sorry this chapter is horrible! I had this idea of a competition thingy, but I am bad at fighting scenes so I will try not to add them in. Which was why everything ended up as lame as it is now. Halfway through, I realised that I had absolutely _no idea_ what to write for this, because I had thought a competition would be fun and was necessary because I didn't want to rush into other stuff first. But what I realised later was that I had to _plan _the competition thingy, which I have no idea how to now, and I'll think of it later. Unless you want to give me ideas :) Anyway, sorry for the Gray and Ice thingy that was super lame, because I just felt like writing it. I totally_ adore _bullying Gray. And yes, expect the next chapter to be this stupid and pointless as well, and I'm sorry! Really! I'm just worse at writing than I thought. I will either continue this chapter, or start another in another POV  
Thanks for reading this stupid, pointless fic of mine! :) - TheRandomGirl  
P.S. I'm not sure, but we measure temperature in degree Celsius here, so I'm using that. Sorry about that!  
****P.S.S And I simply wanted to have 10 teams, so if some of them don't appear at all, I'm sorry!**


	4. Slowly but surely

**Chapter 4**

* * *

Today was one of the days Lucy did not particularly enjoy. She was already not really looking forward to this day since Levy had told her she was not partnering her today, especially since Levy was the one who suggested they pair up in the first place. Truthfully, Lucy felt a little betrayed. But Lucy also understood that Levy needed some time with her team, not to mention that Levy's team would probably and totally _die_ without her help in this. Besides, Natsu had been a little dejected since he had heard he wasn't going to be in her team, so Lucy thought that perhaps, the new pairing would make things easier for them.

But still, Lucy _hated_ competitions. Well, almost all of them. She only liked to do things which she felt like she had at least a chance of winning at, or if the rewards were great. That was why she would go for competitions such as the Ms. FairyTail contest, but never for something like this, because she wasn't really interested in the rewards anyway. But because this thing was compulsory, she had no choice but to take part. That didn't mean she enjoyed it though.

But Lucy knew her teammates were probably not as smart as her, even though she admitted they were pretty smart too. Well, sometimes. So anyway, they probably wouldn't blame her if she did end up losing. Lucy didn't really care for winning, nor for the fact that her team was probably not going to win considering they were up against Levy.

Since she hadn't cared for this before, she had thought she hadn't needed to work hard for it, and could thus just treat it as any other day, except perhaps slightly more tiring than usual. Before today, she had thought that while she wouldn't particularly enjoy today, it wouldn't be _that_ bad.

Well, then she was wrong.

When Levy had proposed the bet, Lucy was inwardly screaming at herself to find an excuse to not accept it. But the illogical part of her obviously wanted her to take up the challenge to prove Levy wrong. And that illogical part of her had apparently won over her logic, because she ended up agreeing to Levy's terms. So now – Lucy inwardly slapped herself – she had to find a way to win in a competition that she probably wouldn't be able to win, even if she wasn't even interested in winning in the first place. And it was against her best friend too. And it did not help that her teammates in this competition were laughing around and acting like a total bunch of idiots.

What an awesome day.

She sighed. She wished she hadn't acted so impulsively and agreed to the bet. But then again, backing out would have seemed cowardly then. But it was no use thinking about it; there was nothing that she could do about it now anyway. So she decided to look on the bright side. She did have a chance of winning. Since she had already made that bet and there was no turning back, she might as well do her best now. She did not want to lose to Levy after all, even if she was one of her best friends. So Lucy promised herself that she would try her best, even if she might not win. Well, luckily for them, they already had a head start.

Pushing her other thoughts away, the blonde mage decided to focus on the matter at hand instead. Like the question Mirajane was about to ask, for example. She had promised to try her best after all; so she'd better concentrate.

Once the take-over mage was sure everyone was paying attention to her question, Mirajane started with the next question.

"The second question's about mathematics. It's quite simple really, but here's a word of advice: Don't think too much into it!"

Lucy smiled to herself. She might not be good in other subjects, but mathematics she could manage. It was a result of always counting how much she needed for rent and the repairs for the damages caused whenever Natsu – or Erza, sometimes – went on a rampage and destroyed half a town or so. Yup, she could handle simple calculations pretty well, she admitted to herself. Yes, it was true Levy wasn't bad at this, but neither was Lucy. She had a good chance of getting this question right, and she was going to take this chance. Lucy sat up straight, making sure she didn't miss a word Mirajane said…

"This shop sells sweets for 10 jewels and chocolates for 20 jewels…"

_Oh, this._ Lucy had first done questions like this when she was a really small child. It was probably about counting what one could buy with a certain amount of money or something. No doubt, she knew how to do them. She would so _not_ let Levy take this chance of free points away. Looking to the side, she saw her teammates drooling at the prospect of food, and further away, Levy who was getting ready to press her red button. Lucy positioned her hands over her own button, preparing to press it…

"… and a small child has exactly enough money to buy 13 sweets and 6 chocolates."

Here, the white-haired mage paused for a moment. Lucy was mentally doing her sums. _Alright, so the child has 250 jewels…_

"Alright. So then, what's 17 multiplied by 12?"

…

_Huh?_ _Wait, what has that got to do with the sweets and chocolates?_ Her hand froze, mind suddenly shutting down. Beside her, the other teams, too, had similar reactions, but Lucy didn't really notice anymore. It took two seconds for her to recover, and start doing the calculations. _Okay… so 17 times 12 is…_

_Beep_.

Sadly, Lucy was a little too slow.

"Yes, Levy?"

_Oh no,_ Lucy mentally cursed herself.

"The answer's 204."

Mirajane smiled.

"That's right! 5 points to Team A!"

Levy smiled in response, sticking out her tongue briefly at the still flabbergasted spirit mage. The blonde stared back in shock, then realized what happened and groaned. She had let herself be tricked by the ever-too-smiley-Mirajane and had gotten confused, losing her chance as a result. And Mirajane had even warned them beforehand! She sighed. This was going to be harder than she thought.

Apparently, a few of the others thought it was unfair. Or perhaps they were just being petty – Lucy didn't really care anymore.

"Mira! That was mean!" Happy cried out, though Lucy doubted that he even knew the answer to the question anyway.

"Yeah! Don't surprise us like that!" Lucy cringed at Makao's whiny voice. He had a wife and son already – and yet he was still so childish…?

When she surprisingly didn't hear Natsu's voice, she turned to her right, and found him in a daze, probably dreaming about food. Oh well. That was to be expected after all. She nudged him.

"Alright, alright, I'm sorry," Mirajane said, though Lucy thought she didn't sound the least bit sorry. "But the expressions on your faces were worth it! Anyway, do make sure to watch out for things like that from now on!"

Finally, everyone calmed down. Then tensed up again, because the next question was up.

"Okay, here's the next question. What's the Master's full name?"

It was a surprisingly easy question. Too easy, in fact, that no one knew what to make of it. Was it another trap of some sort?

Well, his name was just Makarov Dreyar, right? Unless he had another name… But the Master had never mentioned it before. No, she was sure his name _had_ to be that. But… no one else was answering. Was Mirajane was trying to confuse them again? Lucy couldn't tell because she was always smiling. And Lucy couldn't help but notice that she had said "the Master". The first thought that came to her mind was that it obviously meant Makarov, but could she be wrong? It could mean the others as well. Master Mavis, perhaps? No, that didn't make sense! Should she take the risk and answer, or just let the others answer…?

There was a short and uncomfortable silence in which everyone was contemplating whether or not to answer the question.

Then the last person Lucy had thought would do so answered the question.

_Beep._

"Makarov Dreyer," The iron dragon slayer said nonchalantly.

"That's right!"

"Gehehe. I thought you guys would get it way before me. After all, you guys are always going on and on about how much you love the guild and master and whatnot."

"B-But I thought-" Lucy began.

"Thought what?" Mirajane asked curiously.

Lucy bit her lip to stop herself from saying more. Because, looking back, she realized she had been thinking too much. _Again_. She refrained herself from tearing at her hair. Once more, she had given up on free points, even though they were there for the taking! The answer was simple, _too simple_, maybe, so there had been no reason for her _not_ to know the answer! Lucy resisted smacking herself for being so stupid. _If I lose the bet because of this,_ Lucy decided, _I'll allow Natsu _and_ Happy to raid my house and my fridge for one day._ That was something she would never have allowed, and would never want to, because she knew what would happen to her poor house after that. But she needed something else to motivate and make her want to win even more. And so, silently, she promised herself that.

_Alright Lucy. I know you don't want to lose to Levy or let your house be taken over by those two, so you better make sure you win!_ She told herself over and over. She wasn't going to allow herself to lose. If she lost… she shuddered at the thought. She didn't want to think about it. Instead, she forced herself to focus on the situation she was in and find a way to win.

But well, at least it was Gajeel and not Levy who got the question correct. But it was kind of weird, really. She would have expected anyone _but_ Gajeel to get that right. Maybe, she even expected him to let Levy have the chance to answer. But then again, while he obviously liked Levy, he was a rather reserved person, wasn't he? Lucy almost smirked at the thought. Who knew that rude and arrogant Gajeel was actually so shy when it came to love? _But at least he has someone to love_, another part of her thought. She wondered how it felt like to love someone more than herself, so much that you'd be willing to sacrifice everything for their sake. It was in a way noble, scary, and most of all intriguing. Would she ever find someone she could love that much? She loved her friends and guildmates, her Spirits and her parents. There were many she was willing to throw everything away for. But in all those stories she had read, romance was a different thing. It made her afraid of it, and yet, she looked forward to the day she'd be able to feel something like that. Would that day ever come where she would love someone like that, or be loved in such a way? She really wanted to know. Maybe she should ask Cana someday; the woman always seemed to be going out on dates.

"I'll be announcing the next question soon. You ready?"

Lucy was jolted out of her thoughts by Mirajane's voice. _Oh right,_ she thought, _the competition._ She was supposed to be serious and all about this, but what was she thinking of now? It was important to focus on this right now, because she did _not_ want to face the consequences of losing! With that in mind, she gave herself a moment to calm down and focus on Mirajane's next question. She took a deep breath.

"Yes, I'm ready now." She told herself.

Mirajane stared at her for a moment, because she hadn't expected an answer. Lucy stared back, confused at why Mirajane was staring questioningly as her. Then she realized. She had spoken out loud! For some reason, she ended up voicing out her thoughts every now and then, without even realizing it or meaning to. Mentally, the Spirit mage reminded herself to watch out for this bad habit, because it was downright embarrassing sometimes.

Mirajane simply ignored that and flashed them her usual smile. "Okay, since you're all ready. Here's the question. This question doesn't really fall into any category, but just try your best to answer it!"

Everyone tensed.

"Among all these, which is the odd one out: Water, ice, iron, fire or air? State your reason."

Wow. This question was surprisingly straightforward, but more difficult than the others. Water, ice, iron, fire and air. They seemed to refer to Juvia, Gray, Gajeel, Natsu and Wendy. So which was the odd one out?

Lucy evaluated the possibilities. Natsu, Wendy and Gajeel were Dragon Slayers, so that made Juvia and Gray the odd ones out. But the question asked for only one, so it couldn't be.

How about seeing who wasn't in their group now? The only one not here at the moment was Wendy, because she was part of the other teams that were now being given questions by Erza. So could the answer be "air"? But then again, Mirajane had gotten the question from a piece of paper, and Lucy was sure that the questions had been set way before the two groups of teams were decided randomly earlier on. So perhaps, there was another answer after all?

Or maybe, she realized, water, ice, iron, fire and air didn't refer those five people. Mira had never said that. If so, the answer would be fire, because water, ice, iron and air all occupied space, but fire didn't. So, the answer had to be fire, right? That was the safest choice to go with.

_Beep._

The beep interrupted her train of thoughts.

She was not surprised that someone had gotten the answer before she did. What was surprising was that Natsu had been the one to press the button.

She wasn't sure if Natsu would be correct, but she was certainly curious as to what his answer would be.

"The odd one out is ice, because Gray represents ice. Me, Gajeel, Juvia and Wendy can all become one with our elements, but Gray, the idiot he is, is the only one who can't turn his body to ice. And if that reason isn't enough, Gray's obviously the stupidest and weakest one of us all, so that makes him the odd one out."

"Oi, what are you trying to imply, moron?" Gray was not pleased. "You wanna fight?" And in a flash, for reasons unknown, his clothes were off.

"Gray, your clothes." Cana simply sounded bored, and a little impatient. Lucy supposed it was because she dealt with idiots on a daily basis and was used to it.

"Oh, and I just thought of another reason. He's the only stripper." Natsu added in happily, ignoring Gray.

"What, a fight? Should I join in too?" Gajeel smirked.

There hadn't been anything to trigger a fight since the day before, and Lucy was starting to hope for some peace on this particularly bad day. But alas, it wasn't going to happen.

The fight would probably have destroyed half their guild again, had Mirajane not stepped in.

"Guys, I believe now is not the time for this."

Mirajane's eyes were narrowed, her face serious. Everyone visibly gulped. When Mirajane was not smiling, everyone knew something was up, so no one dared to reply her. At that moment, everyone could only think that Mirajane the Demon was no doubt every bit as scary as the Titania. Even Gajeel, while not cowering in fear like the other Dragon Slayer and the ice mage, was looking a little disturbed, as if he could not understand how someone could change moods so quickly.

When she was satisfied, the white-haired mage smiled back at them and continued what she was doing before.

"Okay, even though his explanation was a little weird, I accept Natsu's answer. With that, his team has a total of ten points now."

Lucy blinked once, then twice. She didn't really get it, but that was good. She didn't quite know how Natsu's answer was accepted, because there were too many assumptions and the explanation was weird, but since he scored them 5 points, she wasn't going to complain. She should've known by now. If she had learnt something during her stay here, it was that anything was possible in Fairy Tail. In Fairy Tail, courage and strength as well as the bonds within the guild were valued more than logic. So maybe it was time to throw away common sense and just attempt everything, because while attempting the questions came with a chance of success and failure, not trying would immediately make them losers. Well if that was the case, she might as well try every question, regardless of whether her answer was logical or not.

Even still, there had to be limits to how little common sense one can have, as Lucy would soon realize.

"Next question: Why is the sky blue?"

_Beep._

"Because there are fishes in the sea, and the sea is blue! And since there are fishes in the sky too, the sky has to be blue too!" Happy said excitedly.

And poof! There goes her plan.

"Happy…" Lucy growled.

She knew the blue feline loved fish, but this was more than just an obsession over fish. The world did _not_ resolve around fish, and Happy had to get that into his thick skull. _She would make him_.

"I'm sorry, Happy. That was an interesting answer, but it's wrong. Lucy team, minus one point." Mirajane smiled apologetically.

Happy's face fell. He was obviously upset that he had been wrong. Anyone passing by would've thought that he was a pitiful little cat, with that adorably sad expression on his face.

But did Lucy care?

Of course not.

And so this resulted in Lucy hunting Happy down for the next few minutes, screaming something about stupid cats and common sense.

* * *

Meanwhile, on Erza's side:

"Here's the question. Which is the odd one out: water, wheat, carrots, cake or chicken?"

"Cake."

The answer was immediate. There was no pressing of buttons, and there was no need to, because no one else had gotten the answer as quickly as him. There was no competition.

Erza raised an eyebrow.

"Reason, Elfman?"

"The answer's obvious. A real man can eat all of the above but cake. Cakes are…"

Erza's eyes glinted dangerously. Immediately, everyone looked away from the woman.

Lisanna, obviously concerned about her brother's well being, tried to stop him.

"Elf-niichan, you shouldn't-"

But Elfman was oblivious to it all.

"…unhealthy and a waste of money. They don't fill you up, and they bring nothing but harm to you! Eating cakes are for the weak! Cakes are unmanly! Therefore, real men should-"

"Elfman." Erza cut him off, deliberately dragging his name out slowly but loudly. "I appreciate the explanation, but I am afraid I do not agree with your reasoning."

"At all."

Everyone else shook their head at him. _Don't say any more, Elfman._

Sadly, Elfman did not get the hint.

"A true man does not get scared so easily! Come, let us have a man-to-man duel!" Elfman roared.

Apparently, that was a bad idea, because seconds later, Elfman was lying in a very unmanly heap on the floor.

"It seems like some of us got a little too carried away this time, didn't we?" Erza sounded especially pleased with herself. "Since I doubt he will be waking any time soon, let us continue, shall we?"

"Y-Yes…" everyone chorused, but their thoughts were on a different thing altogether.

_Don't eat cake in front of her. Ever._

From then onwards, Elfman would never admit it, but he would turn green in the face whenever he saw that sweet, fluffy snack.

* * *

What had been two hours felt like eternity to the stellar spirit mage. When the last question was answered, she slumped back in her chair, exhausted. Not physically, but mentally. She was _never_ going to do something like this again. Especially not when her guildmates were the organizers. Half the questions didn't make sense, and many of the answers they accepted didn't make sense either. But at least they had gotten Mirajane instead of Erza – Lucy was sure as hell that Erza's questions weren't even logical– so she wasn't going to complain. (That's what she says, but she had already complained a lot)

Lucy was seriously tired. Even though her teammates had tried to help too, she ended up answering most of the questions. Not that she blamed them, because she had expected that, and she knew that they had tried their best. So she was really grateful to have the one hour break before the next event. So she was going to eat something, get her spirits up, rest for a bit…

Not.

How could that happen, when she was in the same team as the most hyperactive guy in the world? Natsu was whining at her non-stop and trying to drag her out of the guild so they could explore the town and "get some fresh air", or so he said. She didn't really care to listen, and was not in the mood to.

"Lucy! Let's go! I don't want to sit here doing nothing for one hour!" She heard him say.

Happy might have said something too, but Lucy wasn't paying attention. She was not feeling very spirited now, because despite her efforts, she was losing to Levy – Lucy had gotten 48 points so far, but Levy had 61. So, simply put, she was not feeling like a great person now, and Natsu was being annoying. She turned away from him, planting her head on the table and trying desperately to block out her surroundings and get some rest.

But obviously, it was not working.

"Come on, it's not that bad! We beat most of them! Including Gray! Cheer up! Let's get out of here!" Natsu's voice appeared right beside her ear.

Lucy was pissed.

"If you want to go to town so much, why don't you_ just go yourself?_"

She slammed her hands on the table in front of her, shocking a few people, but she didn't notice.

"And who are you to speak when all you care about is your bet with Gray? I had an agonizing two hours and I just want a little time to calm down, okay?"

Lucy knew she would probably regret saying all this later, but right now all she wanted to do was to vent her frustration on something. And she did. She continued scolding everyone in sight and giving stupid reasons that she didn't even believe herself. She knew she was being unreasonable, and she didn't care. The rational part of her knew it was something she shouldn't be doing not matter how irritated with herself she was, but it felt really nice now, and she didn't want to stop yet. Well, she had her bad sides too. She couldn't always be the nice, understanding Lucy, could she? She continued her ranting for a good ten minutes.

When she finally stopped, everyone was a good distance away from her, not wanting to be caught up in all this. But of course. Even Lucy herself knew that almost no one could stand her when she was like this.

"So, feeling better now?"

Her head snapped up, only to see a grinning Natsu.

"Well, I certainly hope so," he continued, "because I don't want you acting like you were just now for the rest of today. You were pretty crazy there, you know."

Natsu simply gave her one of his usual grins, seemingly not affected by her words at all.

It was times like this that Lucy was really grateful to her best friend. More often than not, the pink-haired Dragon Slayer acted like an idiot that didn't seem to care about other's feelings at all, but it was during such instances that showed that he understood and cared for his friends more than anyone else. Anyone else would have been angry at her, but Natsu was the kind of person that would just let her shout at him, simply because he knew that it'd made her feel better. Lucy knew that she often ended up saying hurtful words to everyone whenever she was frustrated. Most people, even when they knew she didn't mean it, would feel irritated and insulted. But Natsu was okay with all that. He was weird like that – and she was truly grateful for that. Where else could she find such a understanding friend?

"Yeah, I'm okay now. Thanks, Natsu." She said softly, and she meant it.

Natsu almost always had a way to make her feel better. It wasn't that the others didn't help her in times of need, but Natsu always had this uncanny way to do the right things at the right time. Sometimes, he didn't even know it himself.

"Don't mention it; that's what friends are for! Right, Happy?"

"Aye! Though I've got to admit you were acting like a madwoman just now. You should work on your temper, Lucy." The blue feline happily commented.

Usually, she would smack him for such a comment, but she simply smiled and nodded.

"I'll try! So anyway, where's this place with really good food? Since I was being a horrible person and all just now, let this be my treat!"

Natsu and Happy looked at her weirdly.

"…What?" She replied.

"It was decided that you'd treat us even before you started nagging at us," the cat stated, as if it was the most normal thing in the world.

"Don't go deciding things like that on your own, stupid cat!"

Natsu simply laughed.

"You guys are weird."

"I don't want to hear that from _you_!" Lucy shot back.

But as she watched her two partners, Lucy couldn't help but think about how much she loved their weird antics. They were weird team – she admitted that even she was weird, but not as bad as them – but they got along well. It didn't matter that they were all different and that they had different hobbies and weird habits. It didn't matter either that they didn't always agree with each other – because what was most important, was that they cared for one another, and tried their best to understand one another. That, she decided, was good enough.

They were a great team, weren't they? What more could she want?

"Let's go, guys," Lucy stated, as she sauntered out of the doorway. "After all, there's something I have to do for you guys, right?" She winked.

* * *

Lucy would probably never admit it to anyone else, but she always had more fun than she'd thought she would whenever she was with Natsu and Happy, even though whatever they did was usually crazy and stupid. They had had a normal lunch – and by normal she meant Natsu and Happy were eating and dropping food all over the place – with Happy going crazy over fish and Natsu spending quite a fraction of the money in Lucy's wallet. But while Lucy would rather they spent less, she didn't complain, because after all, she had promised to treat them – and it was kind of worth it seeing their happy expressions. But it didn't mean she would treat them the next time, though. Her wallet already felt a lot lighter than it was fifteen minutes ago.

After that, Natsu had practically dragged her around town to see various things he found "interesting". Natsu's definition of interesting was kind of weird, disturbing even, but there were also some really awesome things in town she had never seen before because she had simply never bothered. Lucy had stopped once or twice to look at some clothes or accessories too, but mostly, Natsu and Happy were dragging her everywhere to look at whatever _they_ thought was interesting. Not that the blonde mage really minded anyway. It was quite nice to be able to have friends that you could go out and have fun with, without a care in the world. Before Fairy Tail, she was never able to truly enjoy herself. But now she had the chance to, so she was going to enjoy herself as much as she could. The trio then started exploring the outskirts of town for a while, then resting by a sakura tree – the ones that Natsu and Happy had once dug out for her just because she had said in passing that she wanted to see it, but couldn't – due to her falling sick. It brought back good memories.

The hour passed by quickly, and soon it was time to go back to the guild. Now that she was cheered up again, she felt ready to take on anyone – even Levy. And speaking of Levy, she spotted the solid script mage at the corner with her fellow Shadow Gear members, and waved. Now that she had vented all her frustrations, she wasn't going to start treating Levy like an enemy again. But of course, she would still try to win. She already had some idea of what to make Levy do if she did win. And even if Levy did win, she probably wouldn't make her do anything bad; the blue-haired girl was usually too nice to make someone do something they didn't like, anyway. It was true Lucy wanted to win, because who wouldn't? But right now, Lucy didn't really feel the need to win, like before. The events earlier on had made her realize that she had been taking everything too seriously. It was stupid to get angry over losing just because of a stupid bet. Before, in her desire to win, she had totally forgotten about the main point of the event – to have fun.

Lucy walked over to the counter where Mira stood, ordered a drink, and sat down to wait for the rest of the teams. It didn't take long. Soon, everyone was piling into the guild hall. The last to reach were Lisanna and Elfman, whom had miraculously managed to wake so soon after being hit unconscious by Erza. Once everyone had gathered, Master motioned for them to gather in front of the counter where he stood with Erza and Mirajane. (He stood on top of the counter; Erza and Mirajane were standing beside it)

Everyone watched as their small guild master started handing out maps to each team.

"Each team gets a different map and route. Since the routes are different, I can't promise the same level of difficulty for everyone, but it should be equally fun for us- I mean, for all of you," the Master said. "If you have any complaints about the difficulty of the route, feel free to speak to Erza."

Immediately, a few who were about to speak closed their mouths tightly.

Lucy studied her route as Happy flew overhead, while Natsu tried to look over her shoulders.

"How's it, Lucy?"

"You're looking at it too, and yet you're asking me?" Lucy sighed. "But it's okay, I guess."

Truthfully, the route seemed pretty easy. According to the map, they didn't have to go far – just stay in town and go around finding clues along the way.

"Then," Mirajane started, "let me explain what you have to do. Even though there is a map that gives you an idea of where to go, it obviously doesn't tell you the exact location of a clue. It might lead you to a certain street, but what to do there to find the next clue is up to you to figure out. Also – this is important – we will not show you where to get the item that you need to bring back. The map will only lead you to the clues, and after you get the final clue it is up to you to figure out where to go next. Remember, the item can be anything – an orange or toy, for example – and the game might require you to go to places not in town for some of you. Well, that's about all. Any questions?"

"Oi, you gave me a wrong map didn't you?" Gajeel held up a piece of paper. On it was what seemed like a drawing of a snow-capped mountain to Lucy, but from afar, she wasn't sure.

"Nope," the cheery white-haired mage simply looked at the Dragon Slayer, and smiled(Lucy was sure that Mira had some sadistic tendencies; she smiled through almost everything). "I did mention that the game didn't have to be held in town didn't I?"

Lucy saw Gajeel open his mouth to retort, but he shut it again. Pantherlily simply looked at him and shook his head.

"Oh, and magic is allowed, but try not to destroy anything, or Erza will go crazy."

Lucy silently praised Mirajane for daring to say that in front of Erza, but she knew that Erza would never really blame the cheery white-haired mage. It was near impossible to get angry at someone like Mira.

Mirajane then handed each team an envelope containing the first clue.

"I look forward to seeing how many of you will pass," Erza finally spoke up, smiling in a way Lucy thought was really creepy.

"Then," Mirajane said, "let the games begin!"

Immediately, everyone started making their way to the different places on their maps. Lucy dragged a daydreaming Natsu and Happy along as she made her way into town, determined to get started as soon as possible.

* * *

"Luuucy," Happy whined.

"No." Her reply was immediate.

"But I'm hungry!"

"Happy, it's not even time for dinner yet."

"But…"

"Okay, okay, I'll promise you we'll have dinner after I figure out this clue, okay?"

The blue feline immediately brightened up. "Really, Lucy?"

"Yeah," she replied, almost laughing at the blue furball (did cats always have random mood swings?) "But first, wake the idiot up. I can't think when he's being so distracting."

The Dragon Slayer wasn't really sleeping, but he looked like he would fall asleep any moment now. His eyes were half-closed, and he was dragging himself along, not really listening to their conversation. He was mumbling to himself, but she couldn't make out his words. Something about food, she suspected. Anyway, he was being distracting.

Happy grinned, then went over and prodded Natsu with his tail. When that didn't work, he flew into Natsu and almost knocked him off balance.

"Hey, what was that for!"

Happy grinned. "Lucy asked me to wake you up." Happy was really enjoying this, she noticed.

"Well, I wasn't sleeping!" he protested weakly.

"You were about to." Lucy added.

"Whatever. So what are we doing now? We were on the second clue, right?"

Lucy resisted the urge to smack the Dragon Slayer on the head. What had he been doing all along?

"Nope, we're on the fourth." Happy chimed in helpfully.

"Anyway," the celestial spirit mage sighed, "let's go to our next destination, the town square."

She held up the piece of paper with only one word on it: Purple.

"What does that mean, Lucy?" Happy questioned.

"I have no idea. We just go there and search for anything purple, I guess."

Truthfully, the celestial spirit mage had no idea what to do. She didn't mind riddles, and she wouldn't complain even if the clue was a ridiculously long passage, but she didn't know what to make of this one word. The other clues had been easy; they might not be straightforward, but at least once she'd figured out what it meant, she didn't have any trouble finding the next item. But now, with the clue being so vague, she'd probably have to spend a long time trying to find the next clue.

Once the trio reached the town square, Lucy was tempted to ignore everything else and start shopping.

In the middle of the square stood a large fountain. From it, the walkway branched out into four paths. At one side of the square were shops selling accessories, dresses, and all sorts of feminine stuff. Another side of the square sold stuff mainly for children. Along the other pathway leading from the square, there were shops selling miscellaneous things that were fit for all age groups and genders. Lucy saw restaurants, shops selling magic items, and even a large book store that probably had all kinds of books she liked. She had to remind herself over and over that the purpose of coming here wasn't to shop – because it was just so tempting.

"So, what do we do now?" the Dragon Slayer asked, now fully awake thanks to Happy.

"Okay," she said, "let's start looking for anything purple and hope we get lucky."

She felt stupid saying that, because it was akin to admitting that she didn't know what to do at all. But what choice did they have?

Immediately, Natsu and Happy were running off towards different directions.

"Wait," she said, and they froze. "You guys are coming with me."

Groaning, they turned around and walked back to where she was, looking defeated, and the celestial spirit mage almost giggled at how similar they expressions were.

"The faster we get this done, the faster you'll get to have dinner, so cheer up!"

The effect was immediate. Instantly, the looks on their faces was replaced by excitement. She laughed at how similar they were to little children. She would never understand why they loved food so much.

The next twenty minutes or so was spent exploring the shops to find anything remotely purple. There were purple dresses, purple toys, and other random purple items (there was even a purple_ strawberry_ cake), but they couldn't find anything to do with the next clue. After yet another agonizing ten minutes, the trio decided to stop for a while.

"I think I'm going to die from this," Happy complained as he hovered above them. "Why do people have so much purple stuff anyway? It's an ugly color."

"Hey!" she retorted indignantly. "I happen to like purple!" Lucy felt a little insulted at Happy's remark, because today she was wearing a purple top and high heels.

"This is taking forever," Natsu complained. "Can't we eat first?"

"Fine," Lucy agreed, still glaring at the feline. "Let's go eat first, then." Well, they really _were_ getting nowhere, and she was beginning to get a little hungry, too.

With that, they went into one of the many restaurants. Natsu ordered one of his fire-foods, and Happy requested for fish (again), while Lucy settled for chocolate ice-cream because she wasn't really hungry. Ignoring Happy's comment that ice-cream would make her fat, she dug into her food, and felt the cool, chocolaty taste spreading across her tongue. The ice-cream was good, she decided.

She noticed Natsu watching her eat with a mixture of curiosity and horror.

"…What?" She asked, slightly uncomfortable at his staring.

"I don't get how you enjoy that. You must be crazy, like Gray is," He replied, still staring.

"Hey!" Here she was, feeling insulted for the second time in ten minutes. "So what if Gray eats it? And I don't want to hear that from someone who eats fire!"

"Yeah, whatever. You're weird."

Lucy scooped up a bit of ice-cream and brought it to his mouth, determined to make him change his mind about ice-cream.

"Here, eat it. It's really good."

She tried to get him to open his mouth, but he didn't.

He turned away. "It's just flavored ice. That's like_, flavored Gray_. I'm not eating that."

Really, what was with Natsu and his weird thinking? But when he put it that way, it did sound kind of gross too. But the ice-cream was really good, so she didn't care.

"Eat it." She commanded, giving him that if-you-don't-listen-to-me-I'll-kill-you glare.

Reluctantly, the guy leaned forward and ate it off her spoon, before giving her a disgusted look and quickly drinking water to remove the taste from his mouth. Lucy frowned. How can he not enjoy something that tasted so good?

"You liiiiike each other."

Lucy groaned inwardly. She had forgotten about Happy.

"How does that even make sense? And don't roll your tongue!"

"Didn't you know? That was counted as an indirect kiss!" Happy grinned, obviously pleased with himself.

Lucy felt a little heat rise up to her cheeks, and she hoped it wasn't visible. She hadn't really thought of it in such a way. She always did that kind of thing, so it was normal for her. It wasn't supposed to be what Happy was trying to imply!

"No it's not! I always share food with others! That's me being nice, _not_ me liking them!"

Happy obviously wasn't listening to her explanation.

"Yeah right, Lucy. I just know you liiiike Natsu."

"You're wrong, Happy! Lucy was trying to _torture_ me with ice-cream!" Natsu finally spoke up, after finally gulping down his glass of water.

"Yeah! Natsu's rig- Wait what! I'm not that mean! I wasn't torturing-"

"Oh, already quarreling like a married couple!" Happy interjected.

Lucy frowned. She knew that Happy would never give up on a chance to tease her no matter what she said, so she decided to threaten him to stop him.

"Happy," she said slowly, smirking. "You don't want to say that again, right? My hands are itching to pull off someone's whiskers today."

The blue feline gulped, and Lucy almost laughed.

"E-Evil-Lucy is out…" he whispered to pink-haired male beside him.

"Yeah… She's scary…" he replied, glancing at her worriedly.

Lucy tried to stop herself from laughing, because it would ruin everything. Instead, she finished the rest of her ice-cream and stood up.

"Let's go! We don't have time to waste!"

Minutes later, the trio was back to searching for purple things, with Happy complaining about how his eyes hurt from looking at purple things (and thus Lucy). This went on for what felt like eternity before Natsu happened to come across a book with the title "Purple" when he tripped and knocked over a shelf and had to help rearrange the books back (and no, the book was _not_ actually purple, which was why the three of them didn't suspect it at all). Inside, between two of the pages was a piece of paper with the next clue written on it (Lucy had no idea why her guild members expected the book to not be sold out before the three of them came across it; maybe the book was really unpopular).

With a bloated stomach and a new lead, the three started on the next part of the game.

* * *

Lucy was finally regretting spending so much time doing random stuff with Natsu and Happy. Now, she was stuck at the final clue with _only_ thirty minutes to twelve. She was tired, but she didn't want to give up when she was so close to her goal. Well, that was one of the reasons. There was also her bet with Levy and the fact that Erza would probably murder them for not treating the game seriously. But that wasn't her concern now.

The problem now was that she had _no idea_ what to do with the last clue, because she was exhausted and her mind was not working. Once more, she took out the folded piece of paper and re-read the words on it:

I have hands, but no limbs

I have a face, but no head

I can run, but can't walk

I can sing, but can't talk

On the other side of the paper, there was a riddle to the location of the item:

I have a bed, but I never sleep

I have a mouth, but I never eat

I have a head, but I never weep

I run, but I stay the same spot

So far, Lucy had figured out the location of the item – a river – but not the item itself. She was thus currently going towards the only river flowing through the town (also the one in front of her house) and walking along it, hoping to find some other hint. But it was no use, for the river stretched across the whole town and it was impossible to find the item without first solving the riddle.

Lucy sighed. Her two companions looked at each other, but kept quiet, obviously not wanting to disrupt her thoughts. Lucy was sure she had heard of that riddle before, but she couldn't quite put her finger on it. _Calm down, Lucy. Think._ Okay. Something that could sing but not talk; it had to be a sound of some sort, like music or something. Running probably didn't refer to physically running, but some electronic device, perhaps? But what hand, and what face? That was the part she didn't understand, and it frustrated her to no end.

She had to calm down and think. She knew that. But with only twenty five minutes to go, she found that an impossible task.

Minutes ticked by as Lucy tried to comprehend the passage.

Twenty two minutes left.

Twenty one minutes left.

Twenty.

"Oh no, oh no, _oh no_," Lucy muttered, barely able to keep herself from shouting in frustration. Twenty minutes left, and she was _still_ struggling with this. The answer was there somewhere in the back of her mind, but she just couldn't remember. That feeling of not being able to remember was familiar as well as unnerving. She hated it.

A part of her wanted to just give up, but the stubborn part of her decided to continue on. For once, the celestial spirit mage thought that she finally understood how Natsu felt whenever he challenged someone stronger. Sure, he wanted to win, but that wasn't all. Maybe it was actually more of a challenge to himself, instead of the opponent. No matter how strong the person was, or how low the chances of winning were, Natsu never let it deter him. And even if he wouldn't win, he would try his best always. Just as she was doing now. Natsu hadn't said much to her today, but for some reason his presence alone made her want to try her best too. Maybe it was because he was the man who could do the impossible.

Lucy tried to calm down, but the thrill and the adrenaline rushing through her veins was making it hard for her to concentrate. She took deep breaths and allowed herself to tense up her muscles, then relax them, again and again, until she managed to get it under control, but just barely. But at least her head was clear now.

"-cy?"

"Huh…" she muttered absentmindedly.

"Lucy! Stop zoning out!" Happy scolded.

Oh right. She had been zoning out.

"We've fifteen minutes left!" Natsu held out the pocket watch. Lucy turned to stare at him. Natsu had been whining about having nothing to do earlier on, so Lucy had given him that and told him to take note of the time for her. And ever since then, he'd been scarily engrossed with the device, staring at it and watching as the hands on the clock ticked slowly and time wasted away…

…

_Hands?_

She stared at it.

The clock _did_ have hands. And a face.

_I have hands, but no limbs_

_I have a face, but no head_

_I can run, but can't walk_

_I can sing, but can't talk_

Lucy almost cried out in joy, because it almost fit the riddle perfectly. _Almost._ But that was the closest thing to an answer she had gotten so far, and for once in a long time, she thought they actually had a chance. The only problem now was the last line.

No matter what the word actually meant in the riddle, it was obvious a pocket watch couldn't "sing". So what else could? What could "sing" be referring to? What was singing?

Singing was… a sound.

The answer hit her like a ton of bricks.

"Of course!" She shouted excitedly, visibly shocking her companions with her sudden outburst. "Natsu, Happy, let's go! I've figured this thing out!"

She dragged Natsu by the arm as she ran down along the river towards a shop she passed by on a daily basis on her way to the guild. Now that she knew the answer, she felt a little stupid. Because the location was a river, she had thought that the item would be something related to it. Like maybe a fish (Happy's influence). If not for the pocket watch, as well as Natsu and Happy, to some extent, she would never have chanced upon the answer. But now wasn't the time to thank them anyway. She ran on.

She finally stopped at the old shop by the river that they had passed by previously. Inside stood rows and rows of the same thing she woke up to every single morning. There were clocks of all shapes and sizes, and at the corner, what she was looking for – alarm clocks.

She hastily grabbed one and paid for it, then ran out again with her companions following closely behind.

"Is that what we need? Are you sure we can just take any one of them? I mean, there were many on the shelves…" Happy said thoughtfully.

"They didn't say they were looking for an exact brand, so it should be alright. Besides, we don't have time!" She replied without turning back to look at him. Now, she would only focus on getting back as fast as possible.

Within minutes, the guild was in sight. She ran inside, and the first thing she did was to look at the clock hanging on the wall. _11.58 pm_. They were safe. She handed the item to Mirajane behind the counter, almost throwing it in her rush to give it to her.

"Welcome back, Lucy. Had fun?" Mirajane asked, smiling.

"I-I guess," she said, trying to catch her breath.

Slowly, she looked around. Gray and Juvia were at some corner chatting, and Cana and company were present as well. Evergreen's group were sitting at a table, laughing.

No Levy in sight.

"L-Levy?" She tried to ask if Levy was back yet, but only managed one word. The white-haired mage seemed to understand what she said, though.

"No, she's not back yet. By the way, you got the right item, so you came in second."

Lucy had stopped caring after she heard the words 'she's not back yet'. She turned to the clock again. _12.01 am_, it read_._

The thought 'I beat Levy' went through her mind over and over. She had managed to win her! She was so elated over that thought that she didn't even care who came in first. It was probably Freed, anyway. But none of that was important now! She actually won Levy! Maybe now she could force nice, shy Levy to do something for a change, or maybe force her out on a date with Gajeel. She almost squealed at the thought of Levy finally making some progress – because Lucy truly wanted the best for her friend.

And for the first time in hours, she smiled.

And before she knew what she was doing, she ran over and hugged the only pink-haired Dragon Slayer she knew in a tight embrace. The others were watching, (she could feel them staring) and probably gawking at her, but she didn't care. She just _felt_ like hugging someone, and she wouldn't admit it – but Natsu was the most huggable person around now.

She felt Natsu stiffen, and for a moment she thought he would push her away – because that was the normal reaction for when someone randomly jumped into your arms – but then he slowly and hesitantly put his hands around her as well as he returned the hug.

They were in an awkward position, she knew that. If it was anyone else, she would probably have let go immediately. But for some reason, Natsu felt warm and nice, and she didn't want to. Maybe it was because of the nature of his magic; she didn't know. All she knew was that it felt nice and safe, and it simply felt _right_. She wouldn't have known how long they would have stayed in that position, if not for the sudden interruption.

"I'm bac- A-am I interrupting something?" Levy's voice broke the awkward silence.

"Levy…?" Lucy heard herself muttering as she got out of her previous position. Immediately, she felt a little sad at losing her source of warmth.

"Mira! Here's the item!" Levy held out a small toy soldier with a sword by its side.

The white-haired woman took the item and went back to recording things in her book. "Congratulations. You're third, Levy."

"Doesn't the competition end at midnight?" Lucy started before she could stop herself. But it was true, right? The clock on the wall showed that the time was 12.03 am, which meant Levy had not met the deadline. So why had Mira said that…

"Oh, about the clock? Didn't you know? It's five minutes fast – so they aren't too late."

Lucy froze.

"And that means Levy beat you by 8 points!" Mirajane happily announced, oblivious to the fact that Lucy was totally lost in her thoughts.

"Lu-chan…? You okay?" Levy said worriedly, but Lucy didn't hear.

She wasn't even sure what to think anymore. All she knew was this:

Lucy _really_ wanted to hit her head against the wall.

* * *

**Don't ask me why the shop is open so late into the night – just assume that Erza or someone forced them to, because I have no idea, really. And why was Natsu so quiet? Well, I was too lazy to write, so just assume that he understood that Lucy was really serious about the situation and simply decided not to bother her. Freed won, by the way. (His name is Fried on but it reminds me of fried chicken… so I'm not writing that.) Oh, and Gray and Juvia lost because they gave up (Erza will kill them later), and the others didn't make it back in time. And Cana lost because they just decided to bring everything they thought of back to the guild and hoped they got lucky – which they didn't, anyway.**

**Was this chapter too weird? I know that I'm like skipping here and there and missing out on a lot of things (I was lazy, sorry!) but I didn't really want to make the chapter longer than it is, because this chapter isn't really that important, I think? I skipped the part in the middle of the second round. Originally, I wanted to write something about Natsu using magic against someone else for some reason, but I got lazy. Sorry if there are mistakes, because I was too lazy to re-read and I hate the earlier parts too much to want to read it again. I just wanted to get this chapter done and over with :( You can say the whole point in this chapter is to make Lucy hug Natsu because I **_**so**_** wanted it to happen, even if it was for random reasons.**

**I don't know when I'll update next, because I have to get some English thing done soon and I have no idea how to do it.**

**And lastly, don't worry about the bet with Levy. It isn't really important, I think…**

**If you bothered reading this, sorry for making this A/N so long!**

Note: edited a little, but I still hate how not-fluent it is :( I'm just too lazy to bother, really.


	5. People and their weird thoughts

**Chapter 5**

* * *

Lucy sauntered into the guild, immediately noticing that it was strangely quiet. She had slept in, so it was already eleven-thirty, but even so many of the other members weren't present. Lucy spotted Levy seated at the counter drinking juice, while Cana was nearby gulping down barrels of beer (even more than the usual amount - which led Lucy to wonder why Cana would spend even more money drinking just because she hadn't managed to save some beer money). Gray and Juvia were nowhere to be seen, and neither was Erza (the blonde mage suspected that the Titania was already out on a mission taking care of some pitiful individuals; the red-haired female was quite the early riser after all). The three Dragon Slayers were nowhere to be seen, and neither were their flying companions.

For once in a long time, there was peace and quiet in the guild. Those present now were hardly as noisy as her usual company, which was a good thing, because Lucy never liked noise. It annoyed her when she wanted to read or when she was trying to concentrate, and more often than not the noise her companions made made her feel like walking off and hiding in some dark corner. At times they were so loud she was surprised she wasn't deaf already.

Her present company was undoubtedly less rowdy then her usual. And yet at the same time- they weren't as entertaining.

Without her noisiest friends bothering her non-stop, she felt slightly out of place. Lucy hated to admit it, but she was bored. And that was contradicting, because she was one whom liked the peace and quiet.

It's weird how people only miss something when it's not there, Lucy thought as she smiled bitterly to herself. It had been the same with her father.

Letting out a breath she didn't know she had been holding, Lucy made a mental note to never take the people around her for granted, and she buried all those saddening thoughts in her mind once again.

Back to the present then. So, as mentioned before, Lucy was feeling very bored. She would have gone on a job herself, but Natsu had said that he wanted to go on a job with her the next day – and there were no solo jobs she could finish in one day. In short, that meant she was stuck here in the guild with nothing to do. She could have chose not to come here, actually, but she figured sitting at home and facing her four walls at home wasn't going to do her any good. Here though, with some luck, something interesting might happen, despite the fact that the troublemakers in her guild weren't here for the moment. Thinking about that again, a little feeling of emptiness washed over her.

Well, at least she wasn't totally alone. Lazily, Lucy walked over and sat beside Levy, initiating a random conversation with her. The blue-haired mage had been engrossed in a book, so Lucy hadn't wanted to bother her (thanks to Natsu and company, Lucy fully understood how irritating it was to be bothered when trying to read), but Lucy was bored out of her mind. And what else was there to do?

"Levy-chan…" Lucy half-whined.

Without taking her eyes of her book, the blue-haired simply lifted her head a little. "Yes, Lu-chan?"

"I'm really bored…"

Glancing up at her friend, the petite female simply sighed and carefully placed a small bookmark between the pages before putting the book aside.

"No, it's okay, Levy!" Lucy waved her hands around madly in the air. "You can continue reading! I was just bored, so I wanted to find someone to talk to…"

Levy looked at her patiently, before smiling a little.

"It's fine, Lu-chan. It was getting boring anyway, that book. What do you want to talk about?"

"Anything?" Lucy replied. She simply wanted to talk. About what, she didn't care, or so she thought.

"Hmm…" Levy murmured, deep in thought.

At this, the spirit mage couldn't help but think about how different Levy was from her. The blue-haired girl was petite, soft, smart, kind, and much more patient, which was evident from the fact that she never got angry over trivial matters like being bothered unnecessarily while reading. If it were Lucy, she would've tried to ignore the person, or perhaps even gotten irritated. For a moment, Lucy wondered what it was like to be Levy, but she pushed that thought away as soon as it came out. She couldn't imagine herself as anyone else. It wasn't possible, anyway.

Levy's next words jolted her out of her thoughts.

"I'm still wondering what I should make you do... Oh, for our bet, I mean."

Lucy just stared. Oh, she has totally forgotten about it.

"Hmm… let's see. I have to think of something that will make you regret looking down on us!"

Levy was trying her best to look evil and intimidating, but was failing at it. Lucy laughed.

"Hey, I can be mean when I want to! Just so you know, I have many crazy ideas going through my head now!" the blue haired girl indignantly cried out.

"Yeah yeah, I know."

"You're laughing again! I'll make sure to think of something horrible! Don't forget you owe me one!"

Glancing at Levy's pouting face, Lucy smiled. She knew that Levy was indeed capable of thinking up of crazy things, but she doubted she would actually do it. But already, even only threatening to do so was something not so Levy-like. Probably influence from a certain Mage with metal studs on his face.

"I see, you've rubbed off Gajeel's evilness huh?" Lucy smirked. "How are things between you two?"

Levy, surprised by the change in subject, nevertheless replied.

"I don't know, really... Sometimes it's okay and other times it's... I don't know, really. The problem is that my teammates don't seem to be happy about it, and it pains me to think so..."

"They know? Well I guess they do... But does he know?"

"I... don't see any signs of him knowing. And perhaps it's best for things to stay that way. It's not like I ever thought he'd reciprocate my feelings anyway," Levy averted her eyes.

Of course he likes you! Lucy wanted to say, but decided against it. Hinting it was okay, but Lucy was a firm believer that confessions should be done by the person himself and that it wasn't her place to say that.

"Don't belittle yourself too much, Levy-chan. Even if he doesn't like showing it, he really does care for you greatly. I can assure you of that," she tried to sound as convincing as possible without letting on what she knew.

"I guess there's always the chance, but I don't dare to hope too much. This... is enough for me," Levy murmured softly.

Lucy frowned, then smiled at her companion.

"If you say so, then I guess it's fine. But remember this. Nothing is impossible, and sometimes you have to dare to try for it if you plan to get anywhere. And I'll always be supporting you!"

"Thanks, Lu-chan," Levy replied, and flashed one of her usual smiles.

Gajeel, if you ever take away that smile on Levy's face, I'll be sure to kill you, Lucy thought. Gruesomely.

"Oh dear," the petite female shook her head suddenly, causing Lucy to look up. "We're supposed to be talking about you and here I am, going on and on about myself!"

The blonde would've replied something along the lines of "since when were supposed to be talking about me?", but Levy continued before she could retort.

"So, how about you? We've gone on and on about me, so..."

"So...?" Lucy tilted her head questioningly.

Not once had she considered herself an interesting person. Weird, busty, crazy, even smart. All these she could admit to. Interesting? Not really. Surely she was not the most boring person in the world, but Lucy could not see how she could be interesting. Therefore she didn't understand why Levy would want to talk about her when there were in fact, many interesting individuals in the guild to gossip about.

"So how are things between- Uh, so, have you found your yet?" Levy asked.

"Well it's... not like I'm really actively searching for the perfect person. I've decided to take things as they come," She said awkwardly.

It felt a little weird talking about this, but despite that she had wanted to reply truthfully. The solid script mage was someone she could be truthful with.

"There have been... a few people I've thought were nice, and even some that were... almost my... definition of perfect... but I was never really sure. Those people were a lot, and they just came and went, but I never really felt anything special," the celestial spirit mage said slowly while trying to put her thoughts into words.

"Ne, Levy-chan. How do you know when you fall in love?" she murmured.

Beside her, Levy blushed lightly.

"I'm not sure myself but, I just know it when it happens. But that doesn't really answer your question does it?" Levy sighed. "Hmm, all I can say that though I feel comfortable around my teammates, with him it's- I don't know. With him it's just different."

How different? Lucy wanted to ask, but she felt that her friend wouldn't know what to say either. Levy was smiling now, a small smile that she probably wasn't aware of herself. It was amazing how thinking about a person could make one so happy. Lucy truly felt happy for her friend.

"...If that metal-faced guy doesn't take care of her, I'll make sure to really kill him," she muttered to herself.

"Huh? Anyway, Lu-chan, have you ever considered liking anyone in the guild?"

The question took her aback, but her reply was immediate.

"No."

"Why not?"

Why not? Thought Lucy. She wasn't sure. Truthfully, it certainly seemed possible. After all, they were the ones she spent the most time with, and cared for the most. But still. She couldn't imagine it.

"It's just weird and impossible and absurd and ugh, I don't know. Okay, I guess I never thought about it, but it certainly feels impossible."

Levy shook her head. "Well, don't say that. I never even considered my case, and it happened. Who knew I'd end up liking the person who'd destroyed our old guild?"

True, no one had considered that. But now the two of them being together seemed so natural the blonde just wanted to lock them up together in a room till they confessed their feelings to each other. It didn't seem likely to happen, though.

"You and Natsu are close, you know," Levy said suddenly. "Someday, it might develop into something more."

Before the thought even dared to surface in her mind, she pushed it aside. Oh no no no, there was no way that was possible.

"Levy, we're just friends, and it'll always stay that way," she said confidently, because she knew it was true.

Levy on the other hand looked like she was about to challenge that. The blue-haired female had been serious - of course Lucy could tell - but there was no way it was going to happen.

"You two are more than friends - you know it too," Levy stated, frowning.

"And that's because we're best friends. Natsu and Lisanna are more of a couple than we are anyway," the blonde replied simply.

Beside her, the petite female sighed.

"Time isn't always the deciding factor, you know. Maids, childhood friends, caretakers. You might spend time with them and never like them."

"Anyway, I promised to pick up a book from the store, and I have to get going now," Levy said, hurriedly finishing the rest of her juice. "See ya, Lu-chan!"

And after some words of farewell and whatnot, Lucy found herself sitting alone at the table once again, pondering over Levy's words. Back to square one, she guessed. Perhaps she should go for a little jog.

* * *

"Mira, a glass of iced lemon tea please," the stellar spirit mage said absentmindedly as she settled into the chair.

"Sure thing, coming right up," Mirajane replied, not once taking her eyes away from the glass she was so carefully wiping.

Setting down the glassware, Mira busied herself with serving, while Lucy simply sat and watched, a little bored. It seemed that jogging did not have the desired effect. Bathed and clad in clean clothes now, Lucy was more awake and bored than ever.

"What should I do..?" she muttered absentmindedly.

Mira set a glass on the counter.

"Go on a date, then. Cana seems to like to do that often, when she's not drinking."

Lucy's eyebrows twitched.

"Somehow, everyone seems to have forgotten that I don't have a boyfriend, and therefore such an option doesn't exist."

"Oh, but you do. Isn't Natsu your boyfriend?" Mira asked innocently.

Not.

"Best friend, yes, boyfriend, no," Lucy stated. "Honestly, who's the one starting all these weird rumours?"

"Oh dear, I made a mistake?" came Mirajane's surprised voice. "You two are always together, so I assumed..."

Assumed...? So what if they hung out often? No one said anything about her and Happy being lovers or something, did they? A rather disturbing thought, actually.

"Then, why'd you hug Natsu yesterday?" the takeover Mage asked.

"I was... happy?" she answered, not sure what the question was about. "We're teammates? We won?"

"I don't see Levy hugging Jet and Droy," Mira said simply, but her words caused a turmoil in Lucy's mind.

"I..." she trailed off, unsure.

That's true, she thought. I don't hug Gray. I don't even hug Erza. Maybe, Natsu is just more huggable? Nah. Erza might kill me if she reads my thoughts...

Suddenly a picture of Natsu putting on a sickeningly sweet smile on his face while holding his arms open wide came into mind. "Hug me!" he said, and Lucy couldn't take it anymore. She laughed.

Mirajane looked at her weirdly.

"Oh, no, that was just a weird thought," she said, and she snickered once again. Too funny.

"Well... Anyway... Do consider my suggestion," Mira winked. "You never know."

"We're just best friends! And best friends are allowed to do weird stuff, even if it means breaking into each other houses and raiding their fridge. (Everyone else did that too, anyway) Spending all our time together is a norm, because we're best friends!" she declared.

The look on the takeover mage's face said it all: she was not convinced.

What was with these girls and their weird ideas? Frustrated, the mage replied, "We aren't like that, and never will be, Mira."

And that was final.

Apparently, Mirajane disagreed.

"Yo-u ne-ver kno-ow~" she said mysteriously, and Lucy sighed.

"Well, what you told me in the past about Natsu and Gray were never true too, you know," she tried one last time.

"Ah, I was joking then. I'm serious now."

Lucy looked from Mirajane's smiling face to her relaxed posture. She looked just as she always was.

Lucy stared. And stared. And stared.

She sighed once again. "I give up."

Mira was extremely stubborn whenever it had something to do with her weird fantasies. Lesson learnt: don't try to change her mind.

Mira stuck to her ideals; even when her words had no logic to it.

Or did they?

* * *

**Hi there! Sorry for posting such a short chapter after months of being lazy and not updating. By the way, I wrote this on my phone, and there might be lots of errors in the writing! This is a rather uneventful chapter, so I'm sorry if it's boring. It's probably just the way I write that makes it so, though. In this fanfic,**** Levy likes Gajeel****. If you don't like that pairing much, I'm sorry. But it's not the main thing anyway.**

**Natsu didn't appear in the chapter, though his name was mentioned a few times. If you want a little bit of him, you might want to read the small section below later.**

**I can't promise that I'll update soon; it all depends on my mood, really. Anyway, thanks for bothering to read my story and well, bye!**

* * *

"Get out of my way, ice popsicle!"

"Get out of _my_ way, flame brain!"

"You want to fight?" Their voices were perfectly in sync, and for some reason this irritated Natsu.

Why, of all people, did he have to meet Gray on the way to the guild?

Why was he always in the way?

Reedus was painting the half the door, and therefore that left only half the space to enter the guild. And it would have been enough space for Natsu to enter, if only the ice mage hadn't wanted to enter at the same time.

Which resulted in them colliding with one another, Natsu falling over Gray.

It didn't hurt, but Natsu was far from happy.

"Just let me go first, idiot!" came Gray's irritated voice below him.

"Why should I?" he retorted immediately.

"My, my, lively as always I see."

Across the guild, Mirajane smiled at them happily. It was then that he noticed she was talking to a very familiar celestial spirit mage.

"Yo, Lucy!" he said, getting up and striding in, completely unaware of Gray's stare and Reedus' sighing at them as he resumed his painting.

"Afternoon, Natsu," she said, and smiled at him as he sat down beside her.

Was it him, or did she look a bit guilty? Well, whatever.

"I'll leave you two alone, then," Mira said as she winked at Lucy. How weird.

"It's not like that!" Lucy cried out, and Natsu just looked at them questioningly.

"Leave us alone? For what?" he asked.

"N-Nothing," Lucy said, and he just left it as that. He wouldn't understand and he didn't care anyway. He had no time to waste; he had things to prepare for.

"A-Anyway, Natsu, about tomorrow's mission, what are we doing?" Lucy started.

At this Natsu paused, wondering what to reply without making it sound suspicious. Luckily, he didn't have to.

"Hey, flames! You just left me on the floor like that?!" the annoying man shouted as he walked over.

"Oh, hi Lucy," the ice mage said briefly, then went back to shouting at him, saying incoherent things that Natsu didn't bother listening closely to.

What's the idiot saying now? Anyway, I'd better go now, he thought, as he stood to leave. The chance of someone accidentally saving him again wasn't high.

"Save your yapping for later, ice man," he said, smirking and walking out, leaving behind an indignant Gray and a confused Mirajane and Lucy.

"…He didn't answer my question!" he heard Lucy cry out in realization, as he walked out the door.

"Well, he's like that, don't blame him," Mira said cheerfully.

"Anyway, that proves whatever you said before was not true at all!" the mage said happily, and Natsu wondered again what in the world she was talking about.

"You never know~" Mirajane replied in a singsong voice, and he heard the blonde sigh in defeat.

Females were really weird creatures.

Nah, maybe it was just Lucy.


End file.
